The world of fantasy is alive and well. It is not possible to achieve 160 mph in the car quoted, and if we know that part of the tale to be absurdly false, why should we believe any of it?


Yep What are you going to do ground him? No one forces him to get in the car with his mate if he knows how he drives. Surprised he wasnt caught by the numerous mobile cameras on the a127 down to southend. If (when) I drive fast I ask the passenger (particularly if its a girl - extra brownie points ) if the're comfortable with it. If not I drive slower.

 

this coming from a 22 year old - you gotta talk to this kid. i've been there, done that, had accidents and am more than lucky to still be alive/in one piece (at one stage when i was 18/19 NONE of my friends would get in the car with me). it is not until you have a *BIG* accident that you suddenly realise that you are not as capable as you thought you were. i still drive in a spirited manner but NO were near as fast/stupidly/dangerously as i used to -i'm just too scared.

though, i doubt he will listen. i think the best thing to do is get him on a trackday and realise there what happens when you lose control and just how sh1tty that feels.

he *WILL* crash.

steven

 

Be careful how you handle this. If you go OTT your son just wont tell you anymore.

 

Thanks for the comments guys, yes I agree a standard Scoob would not get anywhere near that speed, I myself have to see the car and weigh it up in my mind, I just thought Jamie might have understood a bit more after seeing what happened to me when a drunk hit me head on at over 100 mph, but after all he is 17 nearly 18 so I have too trust him, will let you know what happens, Thanks again,
Colin

 

Ive been driving fast cars since i had my provisional at aged 17.

Driving expensive brand new cars with a lot of poke has taught me to respect them and respect speed.
Rather than having a 1.0 beast and having to rag it to get anywhere i didnt- as the power was there for nice effortless motoring.

Depends what your attitude to driving and to the road is- if its bad/fast then dosnt matter what car it is it will still be given the full moo on every possible occasion.

My parents did however have a moan last year when they found out i had been a passenger in a highly tuned skyline doing 175mph on an 'A' road near here....so i can see your point about not being happy about him getting in the car.
But its his decision when it comes down to it-stupid or otherwise.

 

I know where you are coming from on this and the idea of restricting recently passed people to smaller cars is something me and a mate have talked about before and we both thought it was a good idea (he is 22 and drives a Leon Cupra R, I'm 21 and collect my Scoob on thursday)

My mate progressed to his Cupra after about 4 years of driving around in a 1.6 Charisma (his Mon's) and a 1.6 Leon (his) and although at 22 he was still quite young to be driving a 200+ bhp car he has done ALOT of driving in that time. I know I'm pretty young to be buying the scoob (I am 22 a week today) but compared to alot of the people I know here at uni I've done alot of driving also, I started in a 1.0 Micra and drive that for 2 years and have spent the last year driving a 1.6 Fiesta. I have also driven a variety of cars for work and things. In those three years I've probably done in the region of about 45000 miles in almost every condition imaginable.

I don't feel like I know it all and I'm a really "experienced" driver, but I'm experienced enough to know that there is a shed load I DON'T!

It seems like this kid (cos thats what he is) thinks he knows what he is doing and thinks he is so great - and thats where the problem is. I agree that shouting at your kid about it wouldn't help, Your best bet is to talk to your son and make it clear that you are not angry at him and see that your son knows that those sort of speeds are dangrous and encourage him to talk to his mate about it. Along with the safety try and get in the angle that its in the drivers best interests as getting caught doing that speed will result in a really hefty fine and a definate ban. Even if he thinks that he is god's gift to cars and ignores the safety aspects, maybe idea that he might lose his licence will get through *shrug*

Hope this goes well for you.

 

Failing that, fail to come home from work one day and have mum tell him your car was hit by some idiot on the motorway doing 120mph. See how he feels.

 

If he's doing that speed on the way to and from Southend chances are the **** will lose his license sharpish anyway.. there was 3 hidden speedtraps on my last jaunt up there on a Sat night..

 

Post his reg number up so we can all avoid him like the plague!
Wouldn't particularly care if he took himself out on a motorway but what happens if he loses control and jumps the central reservation and hits another car(s) as he goes - total carnage caused by one brat with daddy having more money than sense.

My grandad used to be a vicar and had the extremely unpleasant job of taking a funeral service of a young lad who did something very similar a few years ago.

 

Its a strange world where you can pass your driving test at 18 on monday and drive away in a 200bhp scooby on tuesday[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img][img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]
This kids dad must me out of his head
He may just as well have bought his son an automatic weapon.
Its an accident waiting to happen.
Now if he only takes himself out,then he will leave one sad family.
If he shows off to his mates, there is going to be at least two
wrecked familys, more if in contact with another car.
When i passed my test 19 years ago, i had a bump or two.
Its all part of the learning curve. And i only had a mini 1000
At those speeds he is going to end up in jail or a box
Anyway, off for a bit of fun to the derby meet tomorrow

Greg

 

..I think that's the difference - you know that and that's the most important thing I got my Scoob at 23, came from a 1.2litre Corsa to a Scooby tbh I was scared at first and was extremely careful, if you respect the fact you're driving over a ton of killing machine I think you tend to be a better driver

Seeing Bolney today, it wasn't just the young drivers hooning down the road...it's all about attitude (as well as experience ) - but I would agree, the dangerous attitudes *tend* to go hand in hand with the younger drivers.

Good luck Colin matey - I know how much this must have terrifed you

 

Unupdate for you guys, this idiot is on his third car YES 3RD he wrote off his first 2 and daddy paid for the other peoples cars to be repaird, gladly Jamie is in doors tonight in his room with his bird, don't know which is more scarey seriously though I will not rest until I have sorted it one way or another.
Cheers
Colin

 

3RD CAR!!!!

That just about says it all

Greg

 

About 10 years ago one of my best mates at school was given a chipped S1 RS Turbo(what he always wanted) as his first car when he passed his test at 17. He lasted 2 months before killing himself - luckly the 2 passengers survived. Lets hope that this bloke only takes himself!! He would need a decent hill for 160mph!

 

3 cars in 6 months. As someone said earlier, his old man has more money than sense. This spoilt brat doesn't have to care ho wfast he is going because if he wrecks his car, daddy buys a new one. If his daddy refused to buy him another it might teachthe spoilt brat to respect his car and drive it more sensibly.

 

Its a real dilemma for you Colin, it is difficult to order your lad not to go in the car, and impossible to control anyway. It will probably have the opposite effect you want if you speak to the young driver, so your only recourse is to speak to his father. It sounds as though the father is prepared to indulge the son in order to court popularity but maybe a quiet but "meaningful" discussion with him might do some good. The only other possibility is that he may soon be caught by the police and be taken off the road.

Les

 

I remember back in 2000 when some lads were killed in a brand new M3 in Sunningdale by the level crossing. They must of been 18/19 and were estimated to be going not far from 100mph on impact. What a waste of life There parents had bought them the car and were absolutely devasted at what had happened...It really brings it home afterwards!!!

It seems to be the trend round where I live that young girls driving small hatchbacks are so dozy that there literally an accident waiting to happen The amount of times I see some of them on phones, doing their make-up and weaving in and out of cars to get where there going 5 seconds quicker is astounding.

Judging by some of the way youngsters drive nowdays and how powerful some cars are compared to when I was there age, it seems like the driving test is outdated and too easy for them...

Nath

 

Agree with Turbo Nutter, alot of this comes down to the kids father. If his son had slaved away working 2 - 3 jobs to pay for the scoob and insurance, I think the kid might have more respect for his car, passengers and know the value of money. Besides scoobs are not that reliable at high speeds, if your up there long enough its a good chance a piston will say goodbye, and won't be cheap to put right.

simb

 

This story gets dafter by the minute. There are now too many extreme factors for this to be plausible. The boy getting any form of insurance aged 17 is ridiculous, then he managed a speed far greater than any known record for the model whilst evading numerous speed traps, and now we discover that he obtained insurance despite leaving a trail of wrecked cars (his & others) in his wake. At his rate of write-offs, it should only be one more week before the turbo is smashed and daddy can buy him a Ferrari.

 

I had a tuned 1600 cavalier as a first car which i drove like
a complete **** but never actually managed to hit anything
more by luck.then a chipped s1 rs turbo which i wasnt much
better in.Then a cossie which i was a lunatic in,still not managing
to hit anything By now im only 21,and yes i payed for them,im
now 28 have a 3yr old son and drive my scooby like miss daisy
every where because i now see accidents waiting to happen
and have a become more responsible,i think personally the more
experience you gain the better, it slows you down

 

try sending him on a track day. I know it sounds crazy, but once I realised quite how easy it was to spin a car and how difficult heavy breaking was I slowed right down on the normal roads

 

 

Good post londonpaul.

Les

 

A track day might work, but from my own experience this may also work.

Get involved with a car club and start entering events.

I used to drive like a complete loon when I got my licence at 16, fortunately I could only afford slowish cars, namely a mini and I only had one accident which fortunately only involved myself. I was going way too fast for a corner and the barrier kept me from going over a cliff.

Shortly after this I joined a car club and stated entering various events, hill climbs, circuit sprints, autocross etc. The regulations required road legal cars and so I used my street car, as did most other people.

I had loads of fun at these events, but one unexpected side effect was that I slowed down on the road. I think it was because I knew that I could safely push a car to and beyond it's limits on the track and that I could not get anything like that buzz on the road.

I continued to race for over 12 years and loved every minute of it. I ended up on the state committe which sets the regulations and one of the changes we put through was to allow children from the age of 12 compete at events. Even if it doesn't stop kids from driving too fast at least they know how to control a slide etc.

I know that once my children are old enough I will get them on a race track.

Mike

 

Make a complaint of dangerous driving to the police?

(Cue Mycroft and "copper's nark" comments)

IMHO a visit from the police might just slow him down. No license = no car. Nothing Daddy can do about that.

 

What the fek is this father and his insurance company up to??? No wonder premiums are going through the roof. Liverpool Victoria exclude any driver under 30 from being insured to drive my scoob, perhaps daddy is the insured with brain-dead of britain as a named driver... in any case IMHO I believe that any driver under 25 should be excluded from driving performance cars of more than say 120bhp. If I were you I would have a word in the driver's shell-like, or your local friendly traffic division.

 

The best result is if some other scumbag nicks it ! Insurance won't want to know then !And it might save a few innocent people .

 

Hi Colin.......

Perhaps this lads "daddy" should be made aware of how his son is driving...but then if he's written of 2 cars already, he must have some idea!?!?

Perhaps he'll then think twice about bailing him out when he whacks his current one....

The word idiot comes to mind

 

Rather than concentrating on his age, is it acceptable to drive at that speed anyway? Probably not, but I'd gamble the majority of us have probably reached speeds near that at least once...

I do agree with some kind of stepped system for new drivers though (not just young drivers.) Experience counts for most things while driving... You wouldn't see a drop in speeds or crazy manouveres though with this approach but it would allow people the opportunity to get used to driving lower powered cars before high powered - which can only be a good thing. I doubt this would ever come in to force though as some families will be single car households...

 

^^manoeuvres^^